The Collapse of The Personal/Professional Separation

Why would you tell 70,000 strangers your every waking thought? What effect does over-sharing have on your career. Does anyone care about your shitty tattoos in the workplace anymore? What would happen if you could just be yourself, unfiltered, all the time?

Jessica Hische is a letterer, illustrator, and self-described “avid internetter”. After graduating with a degree in Graphic and Interactive Design from Tyler School of Art (Temple University) in 2006, she worked for Headcase Design in Philadelphia before taking a position as Senior Designer at Louise Fili Ltd. While working for Louise, she learned most of her skills as a letterer and spent upwards of 16 hours every day working (9 for Louise, 7+ for freelance clients). After two and a half years, Jessica left to further her freelance career and embark on several fun personal projects. Jessica began Daily Drop Cap, a project in which every day she created a new illustrative letter, working through the alphabet a total of twelve times. At its peak, the site had more than 100,000 visitors per month. It culminated with a thirteenth alphabet, each letter crafted by a guest contributor.

Jessica has become as well known for her side projects as she has for her client work. While she doesn’t consider herself a web designer, many of her personal projects are web-centric. She’s created several educational micro-sites including Mom This is How Twitter Works, Should I Work for Free? and Don’t Fear the Internet (with Russ Maschmeyer), each as entertaining as they are helpful. She coined the term “procrastiworking” to describe her tendency to procrastinate on client work by working on personal projects.

Jessica’s clients includes Wes Anderson, Tiffany & Co., The New York Times, Penguin Books, Target, Leo Burnett, American Express, and Wired Magazine. She has also released several commercial typefaces which are available in her store. Jessica has been named a Print Magazine New Visual Artist (20 under 30), one of Forbes 30 under 30 in Art and Design, an ADC Young Gun, a “Person to Watch” by GD USA, and one of 25 Emerging Artists by STEP Magazine. She’s been personally profiled in many magazines including Eye Magazine (UK), Communication Arts, Grafik Magazine (UK), and Novum Magazine (Germany). She is currently serving on the Type Directors Club Board of Directors and divides her time fairly evenly between San Francisco, Brooklyn, and airports en route to design and illustration conferences.